Last week, the Australian Energy Market Operator (or AEMO) suspended the National electricity spot market after it became ‘impossible to operate’ amid projected energy shortfalls. On today’s episode, we’re unpacking how we got here, and how to fix it. This was recorded on 21st June 2022 and things may have changed since recording. The Australia

Australia cannot solve the climate crisis while we keep opening new gas fields and coal mines. In this episode we’re listening back to our webinar with Greens Leader Adam Bandt MP for a discussion about how Australia can rapidly transition to a clean energy economy and move beyond fossil fuels. This was recorded on Thursday

The 2022 federal election was transformative. The Coalition’s vote collapsed across the country. There is a new Labor government, led by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, that will likely gain a majority in its own right, but that will govern with a hugely expanded crossbench. One of the biggest stories of the night was the shift

Australia has never hosted a United Nations climate conference (COP) and the recent proposal from the Labor Party to bid for the 2024 COP in partnership with the Pacific could shift Australia’s reputation from climate laggard to regional leader. Hosting a COP would also have a number of economic, diplomatic and security co-benefits. This was

Australia has committed to reach net zero emissions by 2050. The United Nations Secretary General has said that it’s time to end fossil fuel subsidies, so are fossil fuel subsidies in Australia ending or accelerating? The Australia Institute has crunched the numbers. This episode was recorded on Tuesday 29 March 2022, prior to the federal

Instead of rushing to end fossil fuels, there is going to be a gold rush for carbon offsets, dirty hydrogen and carbon capture and storage (CCS), all designed—not to stop climate change, but—to actually drive up the consumption of coal, oil and gas. This episode was recorded on Tuesday 22 March 2022 and things may

Climate change is making natural disasters like fires, floods, heatwaves and drought more frequent and more extreme. In today’s episode we discuss a levy on fossil fuels to help pay for the damage.

As residents of Lismore tried to escape massive floods on their roofs, the IPCC delivered its latest report on climate impacts as well as adaptation and the news is not good. It warns that Australia faces significant “cascading and compounding” risks due to climate change, including damage from bushfires, floods, drought and sea-level rise. But

Australia’s electric future as the most prosperous, entirely renewable, economy in the world

Rebuilding Vehicle Manufacturing in Australia

New research reveals most major Australian superannuation funds have holdings in nuclear weapons companies

A wrap up of the Glasgow COP26 climate summit and what it means for Australia

The Federal Government’s net zero modelling is little more than an exercise in magical thinking

For the first time ever at a UN Climate Conference, fossil fuels are being tackled head-on at Glasgow COP26. But Australia has plans to massively expand gas and coal projects. If Australia succeeds, the climate loses.

The Glasgow climate summit is all about lifting ambitions over the next decade, but Australia brought a lazy 2030 target and is planning to massively expand gas and coal projects – helping to wreck ambition at Glasgow.

Climate of the Nation 2021 shows concern about climate change is at record highs and a majority of Australians support phasing out fossil fuels and electrifying appliances in their homes.

Today’s episode examines carbon offsets, in other words, the credits companies can buy to offset their emissions. The Australia Institute, together with the Australian Conservation Foundation did a bit of digging into Australia’s offsets system and found some alarming things. Recorded live on 5 October 2021 The Australia Institute // @theausinstitute Host: Ebony Bennett, Deputy

Exploring the economic, political and strategic implications of Australia dumping a $90 billion French submarine program to secure a deal with the US and UK for nuclear-powered submarines.

Extracting gas from the Northern Territory through hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) is one of the largest potential sources of carbon pollution in the world. In this episode we explore the climate cost of a potential policy backflip on opening up the NT to fracking, as well as the community opposition and the economics of it all.

Recorded live on 24 February 2021 as part of the Australia Institute webinar series. Professor Ross Garnaut is an economist and author of new book Reset – which explores the opportunity Australia has to reset its economy in the wake of the pandemic. Warning: there is a bit of feedback on the audio for the

The sixth IPCC assessment report sounded the alarm on the climate crisis, finding that human activity is changing the Earth’s climate in “unprecedented” ways, with some of the changes now inevitable and “irreversible”. We unpack the latest report and the urgency of change with Richie Merzian and Alia Armistead from the Australia Institute’s climate &

The EU has announced it will introduce a Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) as part of its efforts to reach net zero emissions by 2050. This has big implications for the Australian economy, especially carbon intensive expor industries. This week we talk to Richie Merzian and Hannah Melville Rea about what CBAMs are, how they

There has been an enormous surge in the sale of utes, due to the instant asset write-off in the Budget. But just how effective is this in terms of stimulating economic growth and creating jobs? Dig into the details and find out how we’re spending billions of dollars to make our car fleet bigger, heavier

Not the federal budget, the carbon budget. Prime Minister Scott Morrison keeps telling world leaders Australia will ‘meet and beat’ its Paris target and that Australia is ‘leading the world’ on emissions reduction, but if you dig into the carbon accounts the numbers tell a different story. Join Richie Merzian and Polly Hemming from the

Exactly how much do governments hand out to fossil fuel companies every year?

Why are new coal mines like melting ice cream? In today’s episode, Richard Denniss explains the economics of coal, why Malcolm Turnbull has been in trouble with the Liberals and why we need to pause approvals of new coal mines. Host: Ebony Bennett, deputy director, the Australia Institute // @ebony_bennett Guest: Richard Denniss, chief economist,

In our summer special series, we bring you some of our favourite guests from the Australia Institute’s webinar series in 2020. In this episode, Richie Merzian, Climate & Energy Program director at the Australia Institute speakers with Matt Kean, NSW Minister for Energy and the Environment to launch the Australia Institute’s Climate of the Nation

Let’s face it, 2020 has been a bit of a nightmare. This week, in our final episode of the year, Ebony Bennett and Richard Denniss revisit some of the Australia Institute’s predictions back in March 2020 and reflect on the way Australia’s economy and politics have changed this year in response to the pandemic. Mild

The SA and VIC governments have announced a new electric vehicle tax – in other words, a great big new tax on clean air. In today’s episode we explain why this EV tax is terrible idea and unpack some of the arguments for and against it. Host: Ebony Bennett, deputy director of the Australia Institute

The ‘gas-fired recovery’ is supposed to help Australia’s manufacturing industry by freeing up new supply. But the Australia Institute’s research shows the days of cheap gas are over. www.tai.org.au Host: Ebony Bennett, deputy director of the Australia Institute // @ebony_bennettGuests: Mark Ogge, Principal Advisor // @MarkOgge Producer: Jennifer Macey Theme music is by Jonathan McFeat